Awaiting response from IPL organizers regarding situation, reveals Kane Richardson

03/17/2020

Australia quick Kane Richardson shared that he and his fellow teammates are waiting for a word about the IPL as he believes that things can change pretty quickly with the outbreak. Speaking about his COVID-19 scare, Richardson shared that it all felt like a joke when he was quarantined for 26 hours.

The ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic has posed a big question on the future of sports around the world and that of the most awaited 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The cash-rich league, hosted by the BCCI, which was slated to start from March 29, has now been postponed to April 15.

Australia tearaway Kane Richardson shared that he and his teammates are eagerly waiting for a word about the IPL as things are changing quite quickly around the widespread COVID-19 outbreak. As many as 17 Aussie players are scheduled to feature in the league, the future of which seems hazy at the moment.

“We’re just waiting to hear,” Richardson told Cricket Australia’s 'The Unplayable' Podcast, reported Hindustan Times.

“A lot of the blokes have opinions - ‘it’s going to get cancelled’, this and that - but again it can change in a day or a week, so I’ll just sit by the phone and get ready to play for the 15th at the moment - that’s what I’m thinking.

“(The Australia squad) were all sitting around chatting about it. It’s happened out of nowhere.

“A lot of us were going to be away from now til the end of the IPL, so to now be sitting at home with absolutely no idea when the next game of cricket is going to be for any of us, just shows how quickly this has grown.”

The lanky speedster was caught in the crosshairs of precautions when he complained of a sore throat and was in quarantine for 26 hours before his reports turned out negative. Sharing his experience, Richardson conceded that it all felt like a joke to him when he was isolated and was relieved when the reports came out negative, as expected.

“I was at risk because I’d travelled overseas within (the previous) two weeks and I had one of the four symptoms, so that was the reason I got tested. I thought it was all a joke at the time but (the team doctor) was adamant it wasn’t,” the 29 year old added.

“He spoke to various people on the phone to make sure he was doing the right thing and got the biggest swab I’ve ever seen out and stuck it into the back of my nose and back of my mouth, so it wasn’t a pleasurable experience but that was the protocol so I was happy to go along with it.

“I wasn’t expecting a positive result and thankfully that’s what happened...I’m all good and I got the OK to go outside and in the fresh air again.”